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Bug 352895 - Apply ownership to enclosed files doesn't work properly
Apply ownership to enclosed files doesn't work properly
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Product: nautilus
Classification: Core
Component: File and Folder Operations
2.15.x
Other All
: Normal enhancement
: ---
Assigned To: Nautilus Maintainers
Nautilus Maintainers
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2006-08-25 19:40 UTC by shakhshir
Modified: 2012-08-25 12:56 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 2.15/2.16



Description shakhshir 2006-08-25 19:40:00 UTC
Please describe the problem:
I copied a directory from my home directory into /opt.  That directory had its user and group owner set to be me.  I wanted to change the ownership to root:root so I opened up nautilus as root (gksu nautilus) then I right-clicked on the directory in /opt and changed its owner to root and the group owner to root.  When I clicked on "apply permissions to enclosed files" the ownership information did not propagate to the contents of the directory.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Create a directory as a normal user and put some files and directories in it
2. Right click on the directory and choose properties.  Then change the owner and group to another user
3. Click on 'apply permissions to enclosed files'


Actual results:
It doesn't apply the new ownership information to the enclosed files and directories.

Expected results:
To apply the new ownership information to the enclosed files and directories.

Does this happen every time?
yes

Other information:
Comment 1 Christian Neumair 2006-08-26 19:40:31 UTC
Since you know what "root" means you should also know the difference between permissions and ownership. We never implemented recursive ownership changes, chmod -R does not imply chown -R.

Confirming, modifying summary, changing severity to enhancement.
Comment 2 shakhshir 2006-08-27 20:34:17 UTC
What I should or should not know is not of any concern here.  I am reporting a bug in order to help make the software better so there is no need to be defensive and presumptuous.

As for the bug, now 'enhancement', I believe then that you should rectify the tab title, which is currently "Permissions".  As you pointed out, most users who do not know what the difference between chmod and chown are will be led to think that any of the properties they change in that dialog window will propagate downwards if you click the "Apply permissions to enclosed files" button.  It might also be good to show some type of confirmation that the operation was successful or unsuccessful.

The new dialog is definitely an improvement over the 2.14 version.
Comment 3 Martin Andersen 2007-03-26 01:32:36 UTC
I come here from the Ubuntu bugtracker, where I reported the same bug (bug 94512).

I haven't read Gnome's HIG, but I know they're inspired by Apple's and are meant to make the environment intuitive and user-friendly, even for relative computer-illiterates, and that Discovery is an important concept in this. The current behavior is counter-intuitive and user-unfriendly, making it impossible to  do recursive ownership changes without resorting to a terminal. The somewhat arrogant remark by the Nautilus developer above that "chmod -R does not imply chown -R" suggests that some of the developers don't seem to get that. And yet they've made a less Geeky permissions-interface to that end. You cannot expect the user to make the distinction that "Apply permissions" won't apply ownership changes from the same dialog box because, technically speaking, "chmod does not imply chown", even though it very much has to do with permissions. Call the button something else if you must, but it is an obvious bug, not a mere feature enhancement.
It may even be better to have a tickbox/toggle so it is clear all changes are applied once OK is clicked (ALL changes!).
Comment 4 Sam Illingworth 2009-03-13 21:09:25 UTC
I can't believe this is still outstanding!  This is such a pain in the arse and would be such a minor change, surely?  Is there any way of voting for this issue to get it fixed ASAP?

This discussion about permissions/ownership is irrelevant - permissions don't propagate down either.

For example, I want to share my music directories with everyone, and allow everyone to read/write/delete.  My Music directories has Artist directories inside it, with Albums directories inside those, with files inside those.  So, I set the permissions I want on the Music directory and click the "Apply Permissions to Enclosed Files" button and I naturally expect everything in there, including all my songs, to now have the required permissions.

They don't.  The files and directories in the Music folder do, but anything deeper than that isn't effected.  I have to go to a terminal and do a chmod -R 777 *.

The behaviour a user would expect (and desire) from this button is obvious, and would be /so/ useful, considerably more useful than it's current form.  If you don't want to change it's defualt behaviour to chmod -R (which would be more useful than it's current function) then how about putting a tickbox next to it saying "and those in sub-directories" so that both funtionalities are available.
Comment 5 Sam Illingworth 2009-03-13 21:14:12 UTC
I would certainly say this is High Priority, going by bugzilla.gnome.org's definition:

"Seriously broken, but not as high impact. Should be fixed before next major release. Frequently includes cosmetic bugs of particularly high visibility, regressions from functionality provided in previous releases, and more minor bugs that are frequently reported."

Well, it's high visibility, and it is often reported (I saw multiple reports on the Ubuntu forum).
Comment 6 Alexander Larsson 2009-03-20 10:27:57 UTC
This works fine for me in Gnome 2.26, both in normal and advanced permissions view. What are you using?
Comment 7 Ned 2009-07-24 15:20:55 UTC
I am using GNOME 2.26.1 and Ubuntu 9.04.

Changing the Owner of a folder and pressing 'Apply Permissions to Enclosed Files' does not change the Owner of any enclosed folders or files.

Can we have a confirmation that this is a bug, please?
Comment 8 Christopher 2009-08-31 01:49:19 UTC
I do not know what is the formal definition of "bug" but I have the same problem.  I use Ubuntu 9.04 with whatever gnome version comes with it.

I had / have the exact same problem as noted in both the original description and comment # 4.  The permission changes do not "carry down" to all the sub-folders.

I am glad to know I am not the only one with this problem.  This is a big issue for me, since I only want some folders / files accessible (sp?) to certain user accounts.

Linux is designed to support multi-user software and work patterns.  That is a key design difference between a linux operating system and a windows operating system.  This problem is big for non-technical linux users like me; smart enough to avoid windows but not smart enough to use terminal with any regular success.
Comment 9 William Jon McCann 2012-08-24 21:42:47 UTC
The design of the apply permissions function has changed to make this clearer. But you still can't do it.